History of the Sega Mega-CD

Development

Sega's plan had always been to release add-ons for the Mega Drive, and had in fact tested this concept with the earlier SG-1000 II and Sega Mark III consoles, however in 1988 it was widely believed the console's expansion port would be used by a Mega Drive Floppy Disk Drive, revealed quite late into the Mega Drive's development. Alongside it, a keyboard and tablet suggesting a similar relationship to the older SG-1000 and SC-3000 - if you could turn your dedicated games console into a home computer, it could win over some potential customers of 16-bit home computers.

Neither of these accessories were released, but the Mega Drive continued to be manufactured with an expansion slot for the future. And when NEC released its CD-ROM² add-on for its PC Engine in December 1988, the future started to resemble the idea of playing video games from optical disc. A CD-ROM could be produced with far more digital storage capacity than a ROM cartridge, and at a vastly reduced price - the only expense being longer loading times. And so, Sega embarked on a CD-ROM upgrade for their Mega Drive console, the Sega Mega-CD.

Tomio Takami oversaw a group tasked with producing the Mega-CD, initially as a device that could match the performance of the CD-ROM² and sell for about ¥20,000. It was set to have twice the memory, but looking into the CD-ROM² console further, a number of flaws were discovered that Sega hoped to rectify. A string of decisions were made - Sega wanted hardware scaling and rotation of sprites, which meant a new chip. This in-turn caused bottlenecks for the Mega Drive's Motorola 68000 CPU, and so another 68000-series CPU, clocked at a higher rate, was included to handle the extra tasks.

Learning that the updated Super CD-ROM² standard being worked on for the PC Engine may have included a further 2-4 megabits (256kB-512kB) of RAM, Sega then chose to raise their amount to 6Mb (768kB). All these changes hiked up the cost considerably, but internal research suggested this might not affect sales significantly.

Internally the Mega-CD project was a closely guarded secret, to the extent that Japan refused to send development CD drives to the US on fears of the project being leaked. It was also boasted as being almost an entirely new and more capable system than the Mega Drive, but it quickly became apparent that in reality, it was just a mass storage device with a few extras.

On the first day of the Tokyo Toy Show 1991 (1991-06-01), Sega showed the device to the world. 27 third-party companies signed up for Mega-CD development, with three titles (with vague descriptions) planned for the Japanese release - Autumn 1991.

Sega weren't the only company to announced CD-ROM-based consoles that day. NEC unveiled their TurboDuo system (and Super CD-ROM² add-on) and Nintendo and Philips were talking about the CD-i. Also in the air were rumours about a possible Neo Geo CD unit, all of which would end up competing with Sega's device. Sega may have also demonstrated the system's capability with a specifically made demo disc - whether it appeared at the Tokyo Toy Show is not known, but it was certainly shown not long afterwards.

Release

Japan

The Sega Mega-CD was released first in Japan on December 12, 1991. Its retail price was ¥49,800 and had two launch titles, both third party and both Sharp X68000 ports: Wolf Team's Sol-Feace and Micronet's Heavy Nova. Sega didn't give its developers much time to produce CD software - while it estimated CD games cost less to physically produce, development time was much longer. As such, several early games were curiously RPGs, released on the grounds that they were "big" games, typically didn't require advanced special effects but were popular with Japanese audiences.

The only first-party game to be released in 1991 was the Japanese-exclusive Wakusei Woodstock: Funky Horror Band. Its next releases were then subject to severe development problems - Seima Densetsu 3x3 Eyes was delayed by a year and a half, while the announced port of Power Drift did not materialise at all. On the plus side, Nintendo didn't see the Mega-CD as a competitor, so its restrictive policies in regards to third-party developers publishing for rival platforms did not apply - something Koei took advantage of.

Sega initially pushed the Mega-CD by calling for developers, especially X68000 and other home computer developers, to bring their games to the system. Third-party support was dominated by Telenet Japan and its web of subsidiaries during this time period, with other computer developers or developers with notable titles like Micronet, Sur de Wave (Nostalgia 1907), Kogado Studio (Mega Schwarzschild), Compile, and Game Arts stepping on. Game Arts went a step further by releasing Lunar: The Silver Star as an exclusive for the system. Sega themselves tried to bring a mix of original titles (Panic!, Pro Yakyuu Super League CD) and home computer ports (SimEarth, Mega Schwarzschild) to the mix as well.

The Mega-CD was not particularly chosen as a target by arcade developers for ports, even by Sega themselves; only Taito really supported the system (and even then, only with a handful of ports, half of which were done by Wolf Team). Namco and Data East, two of the biggest contributors to the Mega Drive library, hardly released anything at all on the expansion (Namco only released StarBlade, Data East only had two, both by Wolf Team). Instead, more attention was given to Sega's main rival, NEC and the three CD formats of its PC Engine family, a move which saw the Mega-CD lag far behind in this early compact disc games market (a situation practically reversed in North America).

Victor Musical Industries turned out to be one of the most important Sega third-parties by also dedicating themselves to supporting the system hardware. They developed the Wondermega unit, which not only combined a Mega Drive with a Mega CD, but also added features such as MIDI support, as well as special software like Wonder Library and Wonder MIDI that took advantage of these features. To promote their Wonder-branded Mega-CD ecosystem, Victor created a mascot, Wonder Dog. Victor also brought many overseas games to Japan, going so far as to work with British developer Core Design on a Wonder Dog game for the system (which was also ported to the Amiga, Core Design's main release platform).

During the first six months the Mega-CD's problems became immediately clear - it cost too much, and the software didn't exist to back up the extra purchase. Sales were initially high, but dropped off dramatically, casting the CD console game industry into doubt until consoles could be made affordably. Sega reportedly cut the price in response.

The system sold 100,000 units during the first year of release in Japan.

1993 saw the redesigned Mega-CD 2 release priced at ¥29,800.

By mid-1993, however, it became clear that the Mega Drive was on its way out, and the Mega-CD's popularity started to wane with it. Telenet Japan dropped all Sega support outright, and though a proliferation of other third-party publishers followed, only Victor Musical Industries continued to release many games. Sega's own first-party support also started to wane; despite big releases like Popful Mail, Sega wound up spending the last years of the system's life releasing its American FMV games en masse.

Rumours suggest Sega of Japan cancelled all internal CD projects as the focus moved towards their upcoming 32-bit system, the Sega Saturn.

Despite this, the system was supported and received games until 1996, the last being Shadowrun in February.

North America

Sega of Japan did not speak to Sega of America about their Mega CD plans for that market until a few months after the Tokyo Toy Show in Japan. The renamed "Sega CD" was announced at Summer CES 1992, seeing a release in October of the same year. There were 20 games planned for the launch window, with a further two dozen leading up to Spring 1993.

Though initially a success, an expensive launch price of $299.99 (far more than a Sega Genesis console during this period) saw the Sega CD be largely ignored by American consumers over its lifespan. Contrary to the Japanese approach, Sega of America focused heavily on full motion video (FMV) games, a genre "invented" by the advent of the compact disc, which ultimately proved unpopular due to the forced restrictions on player interaction. More "traditional" games did little to justify their inflated price tags - the CD version of Ecco the Dolphin for example is almost identical to its cartridge counterpart bar an improved soundtrack.

The Sega CD's later-than-planned release was also met with other problems - competition from the CD-i, 3DO, Atari Jaguar CD and the Neo Geo CD all emerged during the early-to-mid 1990s, and when combined with the already trading TurboGrafx-CD and more modern IBM PCs starting to utilise CD technology, the Sega CD lacked an edge. Furthermore, the 64-colour graphics hindered the FMV craze - better versions of games could often be found elsewhere.

For about half a year, the "model 1" Sega CD complete with disc tray was made available. To help justify its large price tag, Sega of America bundled the system with reportedly $300's worth of software - a two disc set containing Sega Classics Arcade Collection (with Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Columns, and The Revenge of Shinobi) and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Vol. I and a separate box for Sol-Feace, totalling what Sega of America called "five games". Also included was a CD+G disc and new music sampler audio CD; Rock Paintings/Hot Hits, used to merely demonstrate the CD technology.

As prices for the system dropped and the redesigned Sega CD "model 2" hit store shelves in mid-1993, the bundled games changed, Sewer Shark being the most common pack-in. Systems such as the X'Eye and CDX were also made available during 1993/1994.

CD technology as a whole was hindered in the early 90s by slow disc reading speeds, the side effect being long loading times. CD-based games did not catch on in North America until late 1995, with the advent of the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation.

By 1995 developers were becoming progressively less interested in the Mega-CD, prefering to work on upcoming "32-bit" projects. To counter some of this, starting with Fahrenheit and Wirehead Sega of America pushed for a policy where FMV games would be released for the Sega Mega-CD 32X instead, before being quickly downgraded to Mega-CD quality and packaged in the same box. Fahrenheit was the only game that managed to follow through with this - the CD 32X version of Wirehead was dropped, as were numerous simialr projects.

The Sega CD was dropped entirely in early 1996 as efforts were diverted to the Saturn.

Europe

Similarly to the Mega Drive, the Mega-CD was delayed, arriving in Europe sixteen months after the Japanese model. That is, with the exception of one unit - 20-year-old Reza Abdolali from Germany won the first European Mega-CD by winning the 1992 Sega European Championship on July 31st, 1992.

In the United Kingdom the system launched in early April 1993 (having moved from a tentative "autumn 1992" release date), selling for a pricy £269.99. In the UK, Sega Classics Arcade Collection and Sol-Feace/Cobra Command were included as pack-ins. Italy which launched around the same period, did not include Sega Classics Arcade Collection.

The delays in both hardware and software caused numerous problems, most notably conflicting with events in Japan, where the cost-reduced Mega CD 2 was announced before the older Mega CD models hit European shores. As the Mega CD 2 (renamed the Mega CD II for Europe) was expected to be less expensive, many held out for a cheaper deal towards Christmas 1993, and as a result, out of the 70,000 Mega CDs initially shipped to Europe, only 60,000 had been sold by August 1993.

Further delays caused countries such as France, Germany and Spain to be given the redesigned Mega CD II during summer/autumn 1993 instead of the original Mega CD. These countries in fact received the Mega CD II before the redesigned Mega Drive II (whereas the rest of the world recieved both redesigned units at the same time). Eventually the Mega CD II became the de facto Mega CD unit, but the naming scheme and differing looks caused many problems, with users worried that software would be incompatible and that their hardware, having been out for less than six months, may already have been obsolete.

France's Mega-CD debuted with Road Avenger as a pack-in in the Summer 1993 for 1990F.

In the UK the system dropped to £99.99 at some point in 1995. In Spain there was a drop to 19,900 Pts.

It is estimated that only 4% of European Mega Drive owners bought a Mega CD, mostly due to price. Games were also delayed and arrived less frequently than releases for the Mega Drive, leading to the Mega CD being largely written-off by 1994.

Another factor for this was the launch of the Amiga CD32, which although ran into its own problems mid-way through the decade, was able to secure a large percentage of the CD games market in the UK during its run. Those desperate for CD technology opted for the Amiga system, a then tried-and-tested brand which had been succeeding in Europe since the mid-1980s. Furthermore, IBM PCs were beginning to come equipped with CD-ROM drives, so users could see the technology being put to better use elsewhere.

In Germany several Mega-CD games were banned from sale, including Night Trap and Lethal Enforcers (as well as Mad Dog McCree and Space Pirates, neither of which were released in Europe).

Australia

The Australian release for the Mega CD was April 19, 1993.

Brazil

Like other Sega consoles, the Sega Mega-CD was distributed in Brazil by Tectoy. The original Mega-CD model did not (officially) reach the region, so the Mega-CD 2 was released in Brazil under the name "Sega CD".

While Tectoy continued to produce localised packaging and manuals, the vast majority, if not all game discs were imported from North America without modifications. While difficult to gauge success in the country, support was dropped presumably when US stocks were depleted - it lacked the long-term support of the Mega Drive and Sega Master System, likely because Tectoy had no means (nor desires) to manufacture discs themselves.

South Korea

Again like other Sega consoles, both the Mega CD and Mega CD II were distributd in South Korea by Samsung. They were renamed "CD Aladdin Boy" and "CD Aladdin Boy II" and released in March and July of 1993, respectively.

Decline

Despite its initial hype, Mega CD is not considered to have been a huge success, being held back by price, technology and in many cases, confusion as to what the system actually was. Almost every rival CD-based system was able to output higher quality full motion video, and despite adding new features, the add-on largely failed to justify its price tag.

Many saw the Mega CD simply as being a way to play Mega Drive games on a new format, with the important caveats being that it cost more to maintain and there were fewer games to chose from.

While it is difficult to establish a direct link, Nintendo's plan to create a CD-based add-on for its Super Nintendo (or Super Famicom in Japan) console appears to have been driven by the actions of Sega and its Mega-CD. Nintendo went through various phases of announcing projects with Sony, Philips and then Sony again with 16-bit CD machines, then 32-bit CD machines, then no CD machines at all. Sega's pricing may have been driven by planned launches of Nintendo CD units between late 1992 and 1994 - whether the apathy surrounding Sega's system played a factor in Nintendo's ultimate decision to ingore the CD market is not known, but Nintendo's vapourware announcements likely caused many customers to delay buying the Sega machine just in case Nintendo's offering was better value for money.

The Mega-CD was never widely adopted, but was nevertheless supported by Sega for 4-5 years. Sega attempted to give the hardware a new lease of life with the introduction of the Sega 32X - the concept of Sega Mega-CD 32X games allowed Sega to compete more effectively with its CD peers, but this was a costly endeavour that led to only six games, all of which were available on the standard Mega-CD format.

News of new, 32-bit consoles arriving in 1993 and 1994 caused the Mega-CD to be sidelined by the gaming press, and when Sega themselves began making noises about the Sega Saturn and Sega 32X, the system was considered to be on its last legs. While not officially discontinued until early 1996, for all intents and purposes the Mega-CD stopped being a viable development platform by 1994. Its original rival, NEC's CD-ROM² (by this point typically seen in the form of the PC Engine Duo-R) was also cast aside around this period for similar reasons.